Brazil is the world's fifth most populous country, with a population of some 190,755,799 in 2010,and the seventh largest economy, with a GDP of over US $2,090,314, although the latest prediction from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) shows that Brazil’s GDP for this year may reach US$2.44 trillion, surpassing the UK’s US$ 2.43 trillion to become the 6th largest economy in the world.

Recent political history

In 1994 the then Finance Minister, (later Prime Minister from 1995-2003) Fernando Enrique Cardoso, introduced the “plano Real”. This introduced a stable new currency, the real, backed by foreign reserves, and originally set at parity to the US dollar. This rapidly brought inflation under control. Cardoso also introduced sweeping economic reforms, including privatization, and the opening of the Brazilian economy to foreign investment, which flooded in, at the same time controlling the inflation that had threatened to destroy Brazil, but since these reforms Brazil has gone from strength to strength.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected President 2003-2010. His controversial and popular administration created many social programs to eliminate hunger and address the many challenges in the country. He was re-elected and began focusing on growing the Brazil economy, and in 2008 Brazil actually began to be capable of loaning money to other nations, after decades of being one of the largest debtors.

On the world stage, Lula has forged a "strategic partnership" with countries like South Africa and India as part of Brazil's agenda for economic growth and prosperity not directly tied to U.S. interests. In 2003, Lula and leaders from the other two nations formed what they called the G-3 trade bloc or the BRICS. The group's proclaimed agenda is to forge stronger economic ties among developing nations so that they don't have to rely so heavily on the United States as a trading partner.

On January 1 2011 Dilma Rousseff began her presidency, succeeding her mentor and key supporter, outgoing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Rousseff’s election will be an important determinant of the political trajectory over the coming decade. The impressive economic performance under former president Lula significantly raised the bar for any future administration, leaving a delicate combination of policy objectives: from continuing to improve living standards and addressing a widening fiscal shortfall, to meeting the infrastructural and security challenges ahead of the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

Tourism in Brazil

Tourism is the world's largest industry, bigger than the telecommunications and energy sectors, with worldwide revenue totalling around 10% percent of world GDP. Brazil has been slow in the past to take advantage of its huge tourist appeal, but that is rapidly changing. Brazil established a Ministry of Tourism only in January 2003, but the sector is already expanding rapidly.

According to Embratur, a Brazilian government body set up to gather statistics on the tourism industry, tourists visiting Brazil are skewed heavily towards the older, wealthier, and better-educated. 70% of visitors to Brazil last year had tertiary education, and 48% were aged between 28 and 45, with a further 30% between 45 and 65. 86% of visitors said that their overall expectations were either fully met or exceeded, and, most remarkably, 96% said they wanted to return to Brazil, with 65% already on their second or subsequent visit.

The domestic tourist market in Brazil grew 23.13% between 2008 and 2009,due to big and growing Brazilian consumer market, Brazil is currently one of the best places in the world to invest in real estate. Very few markets can offer such a strong and growing domestic market as Brazil. The Brazilian government does not ignore however the gold mine that foreign tourists represent, and thus it is ramping up its efforts to attract these high spenders from abroad. In 2010 Brazil welcomed 5.1 million visitors, which would translate into $5.9 billion in revenues. All this tourism creates many business opportunities, in the leisure and hotel sectors and also offers opportunities for attracting foreign investment in real estate helped by the positive investment profile.

A compelling case indeed for the future growth of tourism in Brazil. However, there is also the added kicker of eco-tourism. Eco-tourism offers the prospect of capitalizing on the comparative advantage of many developing nations in terms of outstanding scenery, relatively unspoiled natural environments and unique flora and fauna. A study conducted by the University of Reading calculates current growth in eco-tourism at between 15-20% per annum, as opposed to around 10% per annum for tourism in general. Another study, conducted by the International Ecotourism Society, an organization that supports conservation through tourism, the average annual growth rate of ecotourism in Brazil is 10-15%. Thus, for tourism in Brazil, ecotourism will play an increasingly larger role and could soon be the main component of this industry.

In summary, Brazil is now a maturing destination, both for foreign investment and foreign tourists, especially eco-tourists. The Enchanted Valley and surrounding areas are ideally placed to capitalize on the confluence of these trends.

Another great impetus for development is Brazil's forthcoming hosting of both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. ortunately, Brazil’s economy is in a strong position to support the required infrastructure development. Brazil's economy remains in strong health. Its growth rate in 2010 - estimated at 7.5% - is the highest for two decades. The expected average annual growth of 4.9% between 2011 and 2015 will maintain Brazil’s place as one of the world's most compelling growth stories.

Steady increase in tourist arrivals is forecast: air to reach almost 7mn, road : 2.56mn, and by sea to grow to 283,000 visitors by 2015. The largest numbers of these inbound visitors to Brazil are from other countries in Latin America, especially Argentina. In 2011, about 3.2mn tourists are forecast to come from other countries in the region. European visitor numbers are expected to supply more than 2.7mn in 2011 – with the largest number of European tourists coming from Portugal, Italy, Germany, France and Spain.